The subject matter herein relates generally to an electrical connector having a seal assembly.
Electrical connectors provide communicative interfaces between electrical components where power and/or signals may be transmitted therethrough. In some applications, electrical connectors may be exposed to environmental elements, such as moisture, contaminants, and corrosive elements. Ingress of any of these elements into the electrical connector can occur at interfaces between discrete components of the electrical connector and undesirably affect the operation and reliability of the connector. For example, an electrical connector having multiple components, such as a housing, contacts, and wires, can include openings and/or gaps therebetween due to misalignment or variances in tolerances that permit ingress of environmental elements.
Therefore, electrical connectors may also include additional discrete components to protect or seal the interior of the electrical connector from ingress by one or more environmental elements in the exterior environment. For example, electrical connectors may include protective covers, O-rings, seals, overmolded components, feed-thru assemblies, and the like. However, each additional component used in the electrical connector requires additional tooling, manufacture, and assembly, thus increasing cost and assembly time. For example, discrete components may be separately manufactured and later assembled at multiple locations. Furthermore, the additional components may require customized variants, rather than a single universal component, to accommodate different specifications in each application. For example, multiple configurations of a seal assembly may be required to accommodate similar electrical connectors using different gauges of wires and/or different types or sizes of contacts.
Accordingly, there is a need for an electrical connector that includes a seal assembly.